Many forms of electronic communications have developed. Telephone voice calls, for example, allow one person to place a call and, if the called person answers, the two people can engage in an interactive voice conversation. Various forms of text communications over electronic means have also developed. One example is text communications using Short Messaging Service (SMS) or similar techniques. Electronic text communications allow a person to simply create and send a text message to another person. That message is delivered to an account or device associated with the receiving party, and the receiving party is able to see that message whenever the person accesses that account or uses that device.
Electronic text communications differ from voice telephone calls in several respects. For example, when someone sends a text message to a receiving party, there is no way to know when the receiving party will actually see and read the message. The receiving party may not see and read that text message for some time, thus delaying the interaction between the sending and receiving party. This is different from voice telephone calls, where the caller reaches the called person to establish the voice call and both persons, the caller and called person, are actively engaged in an interactive voice exchange and the exchange of information is immediate.